Nope, you just confirmed my point. "Message" and "belief" are doctrinal references.
Catholicism is steeped in a litany doctrines that not even Catholics are sure they understand.
That's how Protestants view it from the outside, but that's not how Catholics experience it. The kernel of a Protestant service is a sermon expounding on the Scriptures. The kernel of a Catholic Mass is the prayer of the priest and people to the Father through Jesus Christ to consecrate the Eucharist. The sermon is an afterthought (optional except on Sundays and high holy days!), and any doctrinal content to the liturgy (and it's possible there isn't nearly enough) is ... well ... not an afterthought, but certainly not central.
It's funny that you say "not even Catholics are sure they understand". It's a very Protestant thing to say. All human doctrines are a created intellect's attempt to understand an infinite God. From my Catholic perspective, if you -- as a created intellect -- are "sure" you "understand" just about any Christian doctrine ... you almost certainly have it wrong.
And the Orthodox say that that's not nearly going far enough.
"The kernel of a Catholic Mass is the prayer of the priest and people to the Father through Jesus Christ to consecrate the Eucharist."
Good point. The climax of Catholic Worship is when the priest, in the person of Christ, lifts up the consecrated Body and Blood and offers it to the Father, where we, the community, join our own sacrifices to the Father...
"THROUGH HIM (Christ), IN HIM, WITH HIM, IN UNITY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, ALL GLORY AND HONOR IS YOURS ALMIGHTY FATHER, FOREVER AND EVER"
Protestant worship is all about the preacher expounding on Scripture. Certainly a truncated form of praise - as it seems the focus is more on the preacher than on God Himself.
Regards
True. But that kernel in it's simplicity is exactly what Christ Himself taught.
" The kernel of a Catholic Mass is the prayer of the priest and people to the Father through Jesus Christ to consecrate the Eucharist. The sermon is an afterthought (optional except on Sundays and high holy days!), and any doctrinal content to the liturgy (and it's possible there isn't nearly enough) is ... well ... not an afterthought, but certainly not central.
True again.
"It's funny that you say 'not even Catholics are sure they understand'. It's a very Protestant thing to say."
No, it's an observational "thing to say," one many Catholics I know will admit to. Btw, as well as a former Catholic, I'm not exactly wingin' it.
"All human doctrines are a created intellect's attempt to understand an infinite God.
They may begin that way, but eventually (as in the RCC -- facilitated most dramatically through Constantine -- embellish and recreate through the assumptive spectrum of man.
"From my Catholic perspective, if you -- as a created intellect -- are 'sure' you 'understand' just about any Christian doctrine ... you almost certainly have it wrong."
The only "Christian doctrine" is indeed Scripture.